New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-05-14
THE PRESIDENTS TRIBUTE TO GARFIELD.

THE PRESIDENTS TRIBUTE TO GARFIELD.
President Cleveland deserves hearty appro-
baton and thanks for speaking true and
worthy words at the unwilling Of President
Garfeld's statue His brief address contains.
it is true, no thought Of surprising novelty, and
its best and worthiest utterances embody the
lessons which have been in the minds of many
thoughtful citizens since the career OF General
Garfield was closed by assassination. But 1T
is to the credit of President Cleveland that he
not only paid a merited tribute to the char
acter and services of the last Republican
elected President, and in well-chosen and
appropriate words. but avoided entirely any
manifestation of the spirit OF partsanship
in his hearty recognition Of Garfield's merits
and just claims to the affection of the people
and to the esteem of mankind.
To those who appreciate the Importance of
reform of the Civil Service the Presidents
single remark regarding the danger of a
mad chase after partisan spoils will be es-
pecially welcome And it must be admitted
that probably no other President has ever had
more opportunities than Mr. Cleveland to APP
preciate the pernicious tendency of this vice
Of parties and of Republics Probably no other
President has ever been obliged to deal with
such an Overwhelming and crazy rush for tho
Offices which the workers of a great party
have been trained all their lives to regard rs
the rightful spoils of their victory In no other
party that has existed in this country, during
the last fifty years, has this belief been as
prevalent or as strong as in the party which
President Cleveland was chosen to represent
After exclusion from public Office for a quarter
of a century, that party came into power with
an intensity of hunger and Of thirst which
astonished and alarmed its best leaders. Great
allowance must certainly be made for him. If
President Cleveland has been unable to with
stand the clamorous demand of such party
under sucb exceptional circumstances No
doubt he speaks with deep sincerity, in rccog-
nizing the folly and madness of the partisan
chase for spols which he has been compelled
to witness, which has done so much TO bring
disgrace upon his party and through its results
so much to bring dscrcdit upon his own Ad-
ministratiOn.
1t remains the fact that the President, not
withstanding his recognition OF the evil, de-
hberatey proposed to resist and to overcome
it. secured his election through the confidence
If certain citizens that he would succeed in
that endeayor. and has been far less successful
than thoee citizens desired or expected. IL 1t
is due to him that the magnitude OF the dliiL
| Guilty to be overcome should be frankly and
fully recognized, it is not less due to the
Nation. and especially to the political OPP
moments of the President that his failure to
carry out his avowcd intentions should also
be recognized as fully The chase for spolls
has been in some degree resisted, it Is true
during the last two ycars, but not with success
II has triumphcd over the promises OF the
President. over his own deliberate CONVICTIONS
over his firm belief that its success would dc
stroy the prospects of his party, over his per
feet consciousness that any yielding TO the
hunger of his party would impair his own use
fitness and tarnish his reputation. Probably
IL Is lust to President Cleveland to remember
that he could not have realized, prior to his
election, the intensity and overwhelming force
Of the partisan hunger with which he has had
TO contend. But it is not to his credit that.
since experience has taught him more Of It's
force and it's danger to the Republic, his policy
has gradually changed, not in the right dlrec-
ton. Month by month he has yielded little
more and again q little more, to the evil spirit
the dangerous tendencies of which nc iuily
recognizes.
THE GROWING DISGRACE.